This article was originally published in PC Gamer issue 280. For more quality articles about all things PC gaming, you can subscribe now in the UK and the US.
My journey begins in Odense, Denmark—the southernmost city in Euro Truck Simulator 2 s new Scandinavia DLC. It s the third largest Danish city and was once ruled by Canute IV, the last Viking king. My road trip will take me through Denmark, over to Sweden, and up to Norway. There s no way to set the GPS in Euro Truck if you re not on a delivery, so I ll be navigating entirely with a map and road signs. I have no idea how long it ll take, but I m sure I ll see some amazing scenery along the way. Or maybe just a load of motorways.
My bright red DAF XF Euro 6—a modest but reliable truck—pulls away from Odense and I head east towards Copenhagen, or K benhavn as the Danes call it. To reach the capital I ll need to cross the Great Belt Fixed Link, or Storeb ltsforbindelsen, a bridge that connects the islands of Zealand and Funen. It s not long before I see its two great towers in the distance, and as I cross it, What a Feeling from Flashdance plays on the Danish radio station I m tuned to. I m feeling good. Spirits are high.
I make my way across Zealand, the most populated island in Denmark. To cross into Sweden I ll have to take the resund Bridge, which anyone who s watched Danish/Swedish crime drama The Bridge will be familiar with. This leads directly from Copenhagen into the Swedish city of Malm . It s an impressive structure, and I switch briefly to a thirdperson view to soak in its majesty. Euro Truck is a game of mostly grey roads, which makes the moments when you see stuff like this even more exciting.
What a Feeling from Flashdance plays on the Danish radio station I m tuned to.
I arrive in Malm , a city with 470km of cycle paths. Not that I care in my massive gas-guzzling truck. I head through the city and southeast towards Trelleborg, the southernmost town in Sweden. When I get there, I have my first accident. I drive a little too quickly around a roundabout and my truck rolls over and falls on its side. If this was the real world, that would be the end of the road trip. But luckily I m able to call for help and magically respawn at a nearby garage.
Karlskrona is my next destination. It s evening now, and the light is fading fast. The road between Trelleborg and Karlskrona is long and narrow, taking me through a picturesque slice of Scandinavian countryside. The sun finally dips below the horizon and I m surrounded by blackness on all sides. It s strangely eerie. I start designing a horror/ truck simulator game in my head. Silent Hill with heavy goods vehicles. Imagine it. Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones plays on the radio as I roll into Karlskrona, which is the headquarters of the Swedish Coast Guard.
Hey, trucks need to rest too.My fatigue meter is almost full, so it s time to rest. I pull into a motel and get a few hours sleep. I wake up to a grey, rainy morning. I switch on my wipers and headlights and head northwest to the next city on my route, V xj . Surrounded by lakes, this beautiful city has promised to totally eliminate its use of fossil fuels by 2030. I show my appreciation by driving my big, smelly truck through it. I continue northwest and make my way towards the city of J nk ping, which is built on the banks of V ttern, Sweden s second largest lake.
From here I head northeast to Link ping, a city that promises to be carbon neutral by 2025. The Swedish seem to care about the environment more than any other country, which makes me feel guilty about fouling the place up with my truck. Good thing virtual carbon emissions don t count. I ve been driving non-stop for an hour and a half now, and I m still only halfway through Sweden. I m finding navigation without the GPS surprisingly easy, but I ve become obsessed with checking the map every other minute to make sure I m not taking any wrong turns.
I m heading towards Sweden s capital now, Stockholm. To get there I have to pass through S dert lje, which is home to truck manufacturer Scania AB. I wonder if any hardcore Scania fans will see me driving through their town in a Dutch DAF truck and throw eggs at me, but I emerge on the other side of the city unscathed. I continue northeast to Stockholm, an amazing city I ve had the pleasure of visiting a couple of times in real life. But, like all the cities in the game, its digital incarnation isn t quite as impressive. I take some time in the capital to visit a garage and repair my truck, which has suffered hundreds of bumps, scrapes and bangs since I left Odense. The total cost is an eye-watering 27,000 euros. Ouch.
The rain effects in Euro Truck are brilliant.My time in Sweden is almost over. I ve noticed that Scandinavia is much greener than other parts of Euro Truck s map. It has a very different feel to other parts of the continent. The architecture, road signs and landscape feel unique, but I still haven t seen anything that s made me stop and go Woah! like Keanu Reeves in Bill & Ted s Excellent Adventure. I leave Stockholm and head to V ster s, the sixth largest municipality in Sweden. From here I make my way to rebro, which is my route into the next country on my Scandinavian road trip: Norway.
It s here, on the road between rebro and Norway s capital, Oslo, that the scenery starts to get much more dramatic. To the strains of Elton John s I m Still Standing , I pass a chain of gorgeous lakes surrounded by dense forest. I m so distracted by the scenery, spinning the third-person camera around my truck, that I slam into a passing car. The roads here are dangerously narrow. Luckily, no one seems to be dead, and I pull away with nothing worse than a 400 euro fine. I eventually cross into Norway, and by the time I reach Oslo, it s the dead of night. I find a nearby station to refuel, then park in a motel to rest.
Oslo has been the capital of Norway since 1814, when the country gained its independence from Denmark. It s one of the fastest-growing capitals in Europe, although if I crash into any more cars, that might no longer be the case. There are far fewer cities in the game s recreation of Norway than its version of Sweden, and so the drive west from Oslo to Bergen is pretty barren. But I don t mind, because it s clear from the moment I arrive in Norway that this is the most visually splendid part of the new DLC. The game s engine had to be upgraded for the scenery here, and it shows. It s much grander, and prettier, than anywhere else in the game.
Rainy or not, Scandinavia is beautiful to look at.The road to Bergen is long and mostly straight, but the countryside is so scenic that I don t mind. But, once again, I become so enamoured by my surroundings that I have an accident. I crash my truck face-first into a wall, but luckily I don t flip over and can continue driving. But then the dashboard starts blinking with a message: Seek service immediately! My engine is still running, but it s seriously damaged, and keeps turning itself off in the middle of the road. I m in the middle of nowhere, so I have no choice but to limp on to Bergen and find a mechanic there.
I m drawing closer to Bergen, but night has fallen, so I decide to rest again. My fatigue meter is fine, but I don t want to miss out on any of this Norwegian scenery. It s a bright, sunny morning and I continue my journey, past a stunning mountain range, down winding roads, and through a series of tunnels carved into the volcanic rock. I emerge from one of these tunnels and find myself in front of Hardanger Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in Norway. It s every bit as impressive as Sweden s resund, and leads right into Bergen itself. Rod Stewart s Maggie May blares triumphantly on the radio as I cross the giant bridge towards the city.
On the other side, there s still a bit more driving to go before I reach Bergen. The roads continue to snake through the mountains, with a few sheer drops along the way. There are more tunnels too, including a few underground roundabouts that I ve christened undergroundabouts . I can see why this Scandinavia expansion took so long to develop. It s absolutely massive, and the scenery is unlike anything else I ve seen in the game. As I draw closer to Bergen, I feel a bit sad that my journey is almost over. Euro Truck is a bizarre kind of therapy for me. It s a meditative experience that makes me forget all the troubles in my life. Not that I have any real troubles, but you know what I mean. It s pure escapism. With trucks.
The dark road to Bergen. Great name for a book.Finally, I reach Bergen. It s known as the City of the Seven Mountains, because of the mountains that surround it, which makes it sound like a location from Game of Thrones. It s such a cool place that I ve decided to go there myself in real life. But probably not by truck. My truck, incidentally, is a wreck. I m low on fuel and I m several thousand euros in debt because of those repairs in Stockholm, but I made it. The journey was 1,257 miles in total. I could have taken a shorter route, but I wanted to see as much of the continent as possible. In the end, it took me just under three and a half hours of non-stop driving to get from Odense to Bergen. In real life it would have taken a significantly more time-consuming fifteen hours.
Combined with the Going East DLC, which adds Eastern Europe to the map, the Scandinavia expansion makes Euro Truck Simulator 2 a dizzyingly massive game. Even though I feel bleary-eyed and exhausted after my three-hour road trip, I m already planning my next one. Maybe I ll take things to the next extreme and drive across the entire map, starting in Scotland and ending in Bergen. I can only imagine how long that ll take. And maybe I ll do it with an Oculus Rift. Delivering cargo for money is the core of Euro Truck s structure, but next time you play it, don t bother. Just pick a destination, drive there, and enjoy the scenery along the way. It s more relaxing than yoga.
